Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Borough Budget Blowout!

Oops. It looks like even the borough tax increase is going to be bigger than expected. Expected revenues are not meeting those expectations. Now that William Hellmann CPA has moved his expertise to the school board, the borough is failing. Or does this mean that this is what we can expect from the school board budget once Billy Boy is done?

Council reopens budget talks to discuss shortfall

By DANNY ADLER
Bucks County Courier Times

Because of unexpected expenses that have arisen following approval of the 2008 budget, the council decided to reopen its spending plan Tuesday night to account for an estimated $91,098 shortfall.

In order to account for the budget's shortcomings, municipal taxes could rise even more than the $56 increase that passed in December.

The council will hold a special budget meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at borough hall, 35 Union St. Under state law, the budget must be closed by Feb. 15.

A memo from borough Manager George Mount said the borough received $37,700 less than was budgeted from a recycling performance grant.

The borough also was left with a $20,000 expense for a workers compensation audit for 2006 and 2007, and will have to pay an additional $33,398 for 2007 and 2008, Mount said.

Those expenses were not included in the 2008 budget.

Council President Nancy Sherlock said now is the time to open the budget to avoid a bigger deficit going into next year.

According to the budget that passed in December, the owner of a property assessed at the borough average of $20,000 will pay approximately $663 in property taxes in 2008.

The $5.3 million budget was a $300,000 increase over 2007. Millage increased 2.8 mills to 33.18. The cost of 1 mill translates to about $20 for the average property owner.

Shoe on the Other Foot?

Congratulations to Ed Bailey, lately of the QSRE and now a member of the Morrisville School Board, replacing...um...replacing...um...

Wait a minute...when did he get elected? Or appointed? Who is he replacing?

In any event, Ed has provided the LOL Of The Day. We have been warned! Propaganda is effective only when the QSRE/Stop the School people are using it and it is disloyal and unAmerican when used against those same people.

By the way, my algebra skills show that $500,000 over 13 years, considering a student educated from K to 12 in Morrisville comes out to $38,461 per year. Is this the new propaganda based number we should we be using?

I'm also intrigued by Mr Bailey's insistence in infringing my civil rights to speak out.

Considering all options

In the Jan. 12 article, “Mixed reaction to outsourcing idea,” the reporter mistakenly refers to a “proposed transfer plan” for Morrisville High School students. No proposal is under consideration; rather, the school board is researching possible ways of providing quality education while controlling costs.


Our district is currently spending about $500,000 for every student that it graduates. Yet because of our small size, the high school curriculum is necessarily limited.


Perhaps outsourcing is not the solution for our struggling district, but let's get as many options on the table as possible. Every option will have its pros and cons, and whatever we choose, we will have to accept trade-offs. We are already accepting trade-offs even if we are not aware of them; we need to assess our options to find out what opportunities we are missing.


Those of you who supported the K-12 school need to end your propaganda war against the school board if you want your wishes to be considered. If you can only deliver 350 votes, and nothing the school board does can please you, why should they bother?


Ed Bailey

Morrisville school board

Showdown at the MV Corral

Tonight is the night to give the school board a big fat red "F" in their performance. The meeting has been moved to the MHS auditorium, 7:30 P.M. If you want to speak, I understand that they are maneuvering, quite legally, using standing board policies and general annoyance tactics, to limit public speaking as much as possible. I suggested this last night and will suggest it again: Have two clean printed copies of your remarks available. If you don't get to talk because they cut you off, give one copy to the board secretary and the second to the BCCT reporter that will be there.

However, it's not just about the farm program. That's not even on the agenda, but please bring out your tar and pitchforks and let them know how you feel about that issue.

Tonight the bond defeasement will be taken up. After yesterday's emergency interest rate cut, William Hellmann CPA's money buddy will have to re-do the figures. This is the first step in the bankrupting of the school district.

Basically, the money goes in a long term account and earns interest to pay off the bondholders. We're holding on to some of that to pay for the Six Million Dollar Shell renovations.

This is a one shot deal. Once the money is gone, it's gone. Six million is not enough to do the job, no matter if the high school students stay or go. They have no studies showing this cost. They have no quotes even hinting at this cost. All they have is the word of their construction buddies. When was the last time you took your contractor, mechanic, or any other service provider at their word?

If you just watch the magicians as they make the money go and the taxes continue to rise without letting them know it's risky, then when your tax bill arrives, holler and scream at yourself. You're the one that let the school board do it to you.